


The Kinds of Love We Have to Give

by theotherme



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, at least not yet, drarry don't understand that they're in love, except drarry isn't married, no beta we die like men, teddy is our resident marriage counselor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:27:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27258658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theotherme/pseuds/theotherme
Summary: Draco and Harry have raised Teddy together since he was a baby, but only as friends. Now that he’s eleven and waiting for his Hogwarts letter, Teddy wants to know why his two favorite people in the world won’t just fall in love already. Draco has an answer, and suddenly Harry does as well.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy & Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Teddy Lupin & Draco Malfoy, Teddy Lupin & Draco Malfoy & Harry Potter, Teddy Lupin & Harry Potter
Comments: 4
Kudos: 131





	The Kinds of Love We Have to Give

“If you two love each other then why can’t you just fall in love and get married?!” Teddy burst out. Harry quirked a sad smile to him, his eyes asking  _ the question _ . Draco sighed and nodded. He’d take this one. Harry returned his nod and walked out the door behind the couch Draco was on. Teddy looked askance. “ _ What _ ?” He gestured to Harry’s hasty exit. Draco didn’t comment but opened his blanket with one arm and reached the other out towards his cousin. Teddy's face showed him warring with wanting an explanation and wanting to be coddled so Draco shook the blanket a bit to appeal to him. It had been a while since the boy had a proper cuddle from him and Teddy knew it. With an exaggerated fake reluctance, Teddy crawled under the throw blanket with Draco, curling into his right side. Draco put his arm around his cousin’s shoulders and gently carded his fingers through the colorful hair. Presently, it shifted to a pale blonde, so he figured that was the best stalemate he could get. Draco began. 

“Did you know that there’s more than one type of love?” At Teddy’s slow nod he continued. “When I was studying the Ancient Greeks, I learned that they had names for all the types of love they thought existed. I don’t remember the names of all of them right now, but there’s three important ones I want you to know about. The first is family love. When you love your grandmother, that’s the family love. And when Uncle Harry and I love you, that’s family love too.” He nudged Teddy who nudged him back playfully. After a pause, he put Draco’s hand which had fallen around his shoulders back in his hair so Draco continued to play with it. 

“The second is the friendship love. It’s affectionate but does not expect anything romantic. When Harry and I first met after the war, our goal was to become friends. And since we mutually wanted to take care of you, our friendship began because of our family love towards you. If it wasn’t for you, I don’t know if we ever would have become as good friends as we are now. So thank you for being the bright and incredible boy that you are.” Draco kissed the side of Teddy’s head and he immediately burrowed into Draco’s chest. Draco had no doubt his cousin’s face was flaming red, partially because he had raised this boy, but also because his blond hair was tinging pink between his fingers. Draco continued, his voice softer.

“And the last kind of love I want you to know about is the romantic love. There’s two kinds that are important, but I want you to know that Harry and I do have it. The problem is that romantic love is complicated.” Draco paused to glance at Teddy who had finally stuck his head out. He definitely looked confused. Draco sighed, trying to think of a better way to explain something he didn’t really want to believe. He reached over to the coffee table and grabbed one of the rocks they had picked this morning. He passed it to Teddy who held it gingerly in confusion.

“Imagine you have a basket full of rocks, like the ones we picked up along the shore this morning. The basket is your heart, and the rocks inside are all the kinds of love we have to give. When you have a familial love, you pick up one of your rocks and switch it with the person you love. Now you have the love that you have, plus one rock of love from your family member. As we go through life, we have a bunch of types of love rocks and a full but happy heart. When you fall in love with someone though, that love is a bit different. Instead of exchanging one rock, imaging you make a copy of all the rocks in your basket. Then you give that copy to the person you romantically love, and hopefully they give you a copy of their rocks as well.”

“But won’t that be too many rocks for your basket?” 

“Well sometimes, the rocks match up and it turns out you share the same love for the same person.”

“Both you and Uncle Harry love me,” Teddy said sagely.

“And sometimes you don’t like the love one rock has, so you set it aside.”

“Uncle Harry doesn’t like Great Uncle Lucius even though he’s your father.” Teddy’s soft voice broke through after a pause. Draco nodded and kissed his head. He didn’t duck away this time. 

“Great Uncle Lucius did some terrible things during the war. I don’t blame Uncle Harry for not liking him, but neither does he blame me for loving my father. That’s all I could ever ask for, really.” He knew he always tried to talk to Teddy like an adult, he remembered from personal experience that children hated being coddled the second after they grew out of it, but when did his little cousin become so  _ perceptive _ ?

“So what now? Why is it so hard for you and Uncle Harry to give each other your rocks?” Draco sighed, finally coming to the point of his long analogy. He was surprised Teddy had held to the plot this entire time. This must have been deeply bothering him.

“Both during and after the war, Harry and I suffered great losses. A lot of our rocks broke, and it was all we could do to make sure our entire basket didn’t break along with it. When I came to live with you and your grandmother, I got two new rocks, and that helped me realize the rocks I had lost. Harry joining us gave me another rock as well. Once Harry and I became friends, we both agreed that we had lost so much, and that we wanted to repair our own rocks of love before trying to give them to each other. It’s a heavy burden to fix your own rocks and someone else’s as well, and we both understood and accepted that. We both saw Mind Healers for  _ years _ to figure out how to navigate in this new world. I only stopped seeing mine recently. That’s why we had that party a few months ago. So do you understand now?” Teddy didn’t respond at first so Draco waited for him to digest his explanation. It had made sense at first, and it was a mutual decision, but it had been years now, and Draco had wanted more for a while now, not that he’d tell Teddy or Harry ever until Harry was ready.

“If both you and Uncle Harry have healed your rocks then why haven’t you fallen in love?” And wasn’t  _ that _ the crux of the issue? His cousin was spot on as usual. He couldn’t lie now. Not to Teddy. 

“Even if Harry and I are healed, I can’t ask him to drop our friendship for the hope of a relationship. It’s been eleven years Teddy; it’s a scary adjustment. I wouldn’t ask that of him.”

“But that’s just  _ it _ Draco! You’ve waited for Uncle Harry for  _ eleven _ years! How much longer are you going to wait for him? What if you’re old and wrinkly, would you still wait for Uncle Harry?” Draco’s heart squeezed tight. He couldn’t lie.

“Yes. I would wait.” The admission wrenched at Draco, but only seemed to exasperate Teddy further. He had turned by now to look Draco head on. 

“And what if Uncle Harry moved on? What if he falls in love with someone else now that he has all his rocks healed? Would you still wait for him?” Draco’s heart plummeted.

“Yes,” he whispered. “Yes, I’d wait for him.”

“Well you can’t,” Teddy declared. Draco raised an eyebrow. “I won’t let you. If Uncle Harry doesn’t fall in love with you by the time I finish my first year at Hogwarts, you have to move on.” Draco gaped at him. 

“I’m serious,” his cousin continued. “Draco, I love you and Uncle Harry just the same, but I would rather you be happy with someone else than the both of you on tiptoes around one another.”

“And I’m sorry, Teddy.” Draco sighed. “Unfortunately for me, there’s no one other than Uncle Harry. I don’t think I could love someone else even if I wanted to.” Teddy looked away, hair bright and chest heaving, tightly gripping his rock. He didn’t know how to make his cousin understand. This was just the way that things were and Teddy would have to accept that.

Draco heard the door from behind him open. Harry rounded the sofa and sat on the coffee table in front of Draco from which he’d plucked the rock. He grasped Draco’s hand that wasn’t around Teddy. 

“Did you mean it?” Harry breathed. His eyes were a little misty and his voice thick with emotion. “Did you mean what you said?” Draco could acutely feel his heart clawing its way up his throat. 

“Which part?”

“All of it. Any of it.” Draco paused. This was the moment everything would either go splendidly right or horribly wrong, and Draco always seemed to have luck with the latter. He took a deep breath regardless. 

“Yes. I meant every word.”

Before he could register what was happening, Harry had moved forward, gripped his chin with his left hand, and kissed him slowly and sweetly. Draco immediately responded, moving his lips against the man he had known for twenty years and loved for at least half. The kiss ended just as soon as it began, Draco ending it as thoughts bubbled to the surface. 

“Alright, that  _ was not _ the reaction I was trying to get out of you,” Draco immediately stated. Harry cracked a grin and kissed him again, sweet and short.

“Draco we’ve been idiots for the past ten years of our lives. Why are we waiting for each other when we’re right here? I should have taken both you and your rocks all those years ago because I know you would’ve taken me and mine. I’m sorry I was an idiot then and I’m sorry I’ve been an idiot recently. If you’re willing, can we try us out?”

What could Draco ever respond to that? By Merlin, this was literally his wildest dream come true. So Draco pulled Harry in for their third (technically sixth if one was keeping score, which Draco  _ wasn’t _ ) kiss in the twenty some odd years of knowing each other. 

Beside them Teddy gagged and made to move off the couch. Immediately Harry and Draco broke apart and shared a mischievous glance. Both turning to Teddy, they puckered their lips exaggeratedly and leaned in. Teddy screeched and ran off, Harry and Draco hot on his heels.

  
  


* * * * *

  
  


The next morning, Draco woke to the three of them tangled on the big king bed that Draco had been sleeping alone in so far. Harry was spooning him on one side of the bed, and Teddy was sprawled out like a starfish on the other. As Draco lay there he felt Harry shift. Before any of his doubts could surface, Harry kissed his hair and nuzzled his neck before breathing deeply once more. Draco knew things were going to be alright. They were Draco and Harry, it would all work out. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I have an idea to add the backstory of those eleven years but I have a feeling it would get away from me and become very long so we'll see. If I do, I'll end up making this a series and the second work will be the full backstory. Comments and kudos induce some fresh serotonin production and constructive criticism improves me as a writer:)


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